There's a large spike in Canadians choosing FRMs this year

There's a large spike in Canadians choosing FRMs this year

The number of Canadians opting for fixed-rate mortgages has seen a substantial rise since the start of 2018 according to a new report.

LowestRates.ca says that 64.4% of its users chose an FRM in January and 54.6% did so in February, increases of 10 and 20 percentage points respectively.

The surge has been since the BoC increased interest rates on January 14, but the upward trend for FRMs has been noted since the first rate hike last summer.

"The key for Canadians is not to panic. For the past 30 years, mortgage rates have been trending downward," said Justin Thouin, Co-founder and CEO of LowestRates.ca. "There have been brief periods of increase over that time, like we're in right now, but a mortgage is a long-term investment and the long-term data tells us that a variable-rate mortgage is the best option."

Since 2014, 56.56% of the site’s users have decided on a variable rate mortgage, with 43.44% choosing fixed-rate. However, in 2018 so far 60.9% have opted for FRMs and just 38.2% choosing variable.